Oscar's Accident

I remember my mother talking about grandpa's trolley accident a few times, but she didn't know the details of what happened. Oscar began working for the Muskegon Trolley Co. about 1919 until 1922. He accidentally ran over a 5 year old boy on September 5, 1922.  He was a father too and loved all children and the fact that he had caused the death of a child crushed him. He never drove trolley again. Mom said that he was very sensitive about it and couldn't even go near the spot where the accident happened ever again. Last year about this time I read grandma's memoirs and the part about grandpa's accident. She didn't mention a specific date that it had happened, just that it had happened the first week of September. Curious, I decided to go to the Hackley Library and search the newspapers for the incident. It took about 45 minutes and I found this: 



The story in the Muskegon Chronicle, Sept. 6, 1922

Looking for this section of town ended up finding out that McKinney Ave. has either been renamed or is no longer there. So the exact spot is still a unknown to me until I do more research. I did find the resting place of little Steven Horvath in St. Mary's Cemetery. He shares a headstone with his parents.


       

 
 

John George Burkhardt

    

 John George Burkhardt was born on 21 August 1753 in Canton Basel, Switzerland to German born parents Johann Samuel Burkhardt and Sabrina Naegeli. He and his parents came to the colonies when he was very young and was raised in Berks, Pennsylania.  He died on 2 January 1847 at the age of 93 in Gibsonburg, OH. He was buried in Providence Cemetery, Hessville, Sandusky, Ohio. John was a Farmer. Second generation in army and fought in the Revolutionary War. He served as a bodyguard to George Washington as member of Von Heer's Light Dragoons.

According to a descendent's application for membership in the Sons of the Revolution:
"He was a member of Von Heers Light Dragoons and was attached to Washington's headquarters during the war. He was at Valley Forge. The troop was [called] 'Troop of Marechaussee.' He enlisted November 1, 1778, and stated to myself in person and to our family that he served through the whole war. He resided at Reading, PA. He is buried near Hessville, Sandusky County, Ohio. The tombstone was erected by his son-in-law, Jacob Newcomer, with whom he resided at the time of his death (in 1848). The inscription is as follows, 'John Burkhardt Sr, died Jan 2, 1847. Aged 93 yrs 4 mos and 12 days. A soldier of the Revolution and a member of Washington's Life Guard.'
"John Burkhardt, the Revolutionary soldier, often spoke of how cold it was at Valley Forge and that his feet would stick to the snow and ice and that he served through the war and was on Washington's Life Guard, as he called it."

According to the website, "The Continental Line,"

    The tree chart above shows the pedegree line starting with Sarah Lanning, Oscar Nichols's mother (John George Burkhardt in red).  The line goes back farther but this is just an illustration to show where Burkhardt fits into the family history.   

Burkardt's Grave at Providence Cemetery

One of the best story tellers in my family was my grandma Nichols. While I was growing up I didn't know her very well and only saw her once or twice a year beause she lived up north in Kalkaska County. When she passed away in 1981 a collection of note pads that grandma had used as a sort of diary was discovered. In one of them she discribed how she met and married my grandpa Nichols. On this 101 year anniversary of their marriage I thought it would be fitting to share that story.

Delilah wrote:  My best chum, Ada Miles had gone to Atlanta (Michigan) to live with her aunt and I missed her very much. I did not go anywhere or have any more dates until Christmas time. The Swift girls at Sharon Twp.invited me to come up and go to the Christmas Eve program with them at the school house, and also to stay over night. Edith was going with Oscar Nichols at that time and Edna was going with Walter Hearld. After the program was over, Ralph Thayer stepped up and asked Edith if he could walk her home and she said yes. So, that left Oscar Nichols with his mouth wide open. He turned and asked me if he could walk me home and I said yes.
  Oscar did not go back with Edith. The next week he stopped in and asked me to the dance on Saturday night and I said yes. Then the first week of January, Etta Kimball came and got me to work for her at Sharon. I worked there the rest of January and February,so Oscar did not have so far to walk me home from the dances.
  After I went back home, he was carrying the mail from Kalkaska to Sharon, and went past our place in the morning and evening, so I saw him every day and quite often went to town with him and had dinner at Miles Restaurant.
  On my seventeenth birthday after we had dinner, we went to the jewelry store and he bought me a ring for my birhtday gift.  We never talked about getting married, but I guess we both knew we would some day.
     Bill and Ruth  dicided to go to Rugg to visit some of her relatives. They wanted me to drive them to town where they would take a train. Oscar went along and we got married while we were in town on the 24th of January 1912. It was about 9:30 or 10:00 pm when we got back home, so we did not tell the folks until next morning, and of course they were angry again. My Dad told Oscar to get off his place, and if he ever stepped foot on it again, he would shoot him.